Dirk De Bruyker

Early on in his career as an electrical engineer, Dirk De Bruyker became fascinated by the field of microsystems (or MEMS), which is situated where physics, semiconductor technology, materials science, electrical engineering, and chemical engineering intersect. At PARC, Dirk has made seminal contributions to PARC's "StressedMetal" MEMS, and his current work focuses on applications of this technology to chip packaging, micro-optics, and micro-switches.

Driven by his interest in biomedical microsystems and devices, Dirk was also responsible for the fabrication of calorimetric "enthalpy arrays", a disruptive new detection technique for proteomics and drug discovery. He also introduced a novel technique to enhance microfluidic drop mixing, which greatly improved the sensitivity of these detectors.

Dirk obtained his Ph.D. at the K.U. Leuven in his native Belgium. His passion for cycling -- he takes challenging rides to induce inspiration -- led to MTBGuru.com, a mapping site for cyclists and other outdoor enthusiasts.